Liver Transplant Scam Exposed

It is unfortunate but there are some people who seek to take advantage of the misfortune of others. While I find it hard to believe that anyone would take advantage of people seeking organ transplants, it happens and via this blog I will endeavor to expose as many of these people as I can.

Federal prosecutors announced this afternoon that Jerome Feldman, 67, was captured in the Philippines and will be extradited to Syracuse on charges he scammed dying people by setting up phony organ transplant surgeries. Feldman had them wire money — more than $400,000 — to the Chase Bank in DeWitt and also had postal boxes in Fayetteville and DeWitt for more checks, authorities said.

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It’s not the first time he’d been in trouble. His New York State medical license was revoked.Feldman, who has family ties in Central New York, allegedly trolled Web sites looking for people who needed transplants. Using phony names, he would promise to set up the surgeries if the people would wire money in advance. FBI investigators have identified at least five victims, most of whom died after arriving in the Philippines and discovering the doctor who was supposed to perform the life-saving surgery did not exist. Feldman faces up to 20 years in federal prison and fines totaling more than $250,000.

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Authorities are also trying to freeze, then seize, his assets.

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If and as we find more of these frauds who prey on people’s worst fears and infirmities we will expose them. In the meantime if you are aware of a person or organization that appears to be a scam let us know and we’ll do what we can to get to the truth.

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Please comment in the space provided or email your thoughts to me at bob@baronson.org. And – spread the word about the immediate need for more organ donors. On-line registration can be done at http://www.donatelife.net/index.php Whenever you can, help people formally register. There is nothing you can do that is of greater importance. If you convince one person to be a donor you may save or positively affect over 50 lives. Some of those lives may be people you know and love.

You are also invited to join Organ Transplantation Initiative (OTI) http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=152655364765710 a group dedicated to providing help and information to donors, donor families, transplant patients and families, caregivers and all other interested parties. Your participation is important if we are to influence decision makers to support efforts to increase organ donation and support organ regeneration, replacement and research efforts.

This man should get LIFE without PAROLE and nothing LESS, nothing MORE.
Of course most people would agree, this is an evil and horrifying criminal with no regard for life.
HOWEVER, I knew almost nothing about transplants when I heard the news that my husband needs a liver, or he will die.
I was scared, and went right to the computer to research. I joined a prominent group, and was welcomed with open arms and support like you wouldn’t believe.
So, when I got a message from a man in Indonesia who wanted to “come help you + yr husband with prayers and offering of my part of liver to your service” (exact words) , I became angry and suspicious, and I took his words to the group CREATOR, and asked if they could help me figure out if this guy is someone I can report.
I found that this man is WELL within his rights to offer (not expect 2 B paid) 4 his liver, and , if accepted, would get a VISA to come to AMERICA, and they call it “MEDICAL TOURISM”, and it is TOTALLY LEGAL, as long as NOBODY GETS PAID (except for transportation and lodging for the Donor)
I politely turned this man down, I felt he was up to no good, and even though he possibly could have saved my husband’s life, WE could have been letting a TERRORIST in to this country!
“NO THANK YOU” said my husband.
WHY would a nice and kind person want to travel thousands of miles to “offer his services” when SO many people need organs right down the STREET in his country?
BECAUSE they want to come into this country!
They will float in on rafts, or tear their organs out, but they will get here some way, some how!
But, that is not the topic of this article, but I do think that maybe this policy of letting strangers into this country because they want to offer an organ up should be re-examined in this day and age, AND, people who want to LEAVE this country to obtain a transplant, that policy, I believe ,should at the very LEAST be scrutinized more carefully, and when a person states their reason for going to a certain country, they should be HELD RESPONSIBLE ALSO, just like the scam artist, for participating in a fraudulent activity! (I AM NOT SAYING THAT WAS THE CASE HERE, I HAVE NO IDEA)
*IF you need info and research on TRANSPLANTS and ALL That goes with it, please MARK THIS BLOG as a FAVORITE, as BOB ARONSON has become me and my husband’s HERO, as he is a HEART RECIPIENT, and spends MOST of his time fighting for people waiting for organs, and has AMAZING knowledge of factual info, and if he doesn’t KNOW the answer, you better believe he will find it, and then some!!!
Thank you Bob, for ALL your hard work, here and on FB, (the Organ Transplantation Initiative is the group he is creator of,(the OTI) it focuses on the research and laws governing transplants of all kinds, and support for those enduring the process before and after)
..and if you’re looking for a mature and brilliant mind blowing debate on any number of subjects on FB or here, BOB is your man!!!